


Love Poison

by frannina



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Error/ink - Freeform, Love poison, M/M, Medieval literature reference, Oof I wrote this at 4am, Thanks to a cute angel for helping me with checking this, brine - Freeform, heartbroken, soulless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 06:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17136329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frannina/pseuds/frannina
Summary: “I didn't invite you here, Shorty.”“Come on, Glitchy! Besides, I'm taller than you by just a few inches…”Cover: http://franni-na.tumblr.com/post/181374298532/i-didnt-invite-you-here-shorty-come-on





	Love Poison

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at 4am and I don't regret it at all. ErrorInk got me like a train, man.  
> The stuff written in italic is quoted by the comic published by https://ask-glitch-and-squid.tumblr.com, the comic is called The Confession (Part 1). Thank you for making me cry, I appreciate it.  
> Special thanks to my great friend Bee who helped me out with writing this, I'll never thank you enough for saving my butt.  
> Anyway... Hope you like it!
> 
> Credits to ask-glitch-and-squid for the comic inspiration, comyet for Ink and crayonqueen for Error.

“I didn't invite you here, Shorty.”

“Come on, Glitchy! Besides, I'm taller than you by _just_ a few inches…”

Error groaned, rolling his eyes, still not turning his head to face the painter, who decided to join him during his tour around the different alternate universes. This time, the starry sky of Outertale was there, its stars shining brighter than ever. It's not like he cared about such a small detail, anyway, especially after what happened in the same place, at the same time, _with the same person._ Just thinking about it made him feel sick.

 

_“You LIKE me, Glitchy, don't you?”_

_A loud laughter filled the air, echoing around them, as the painter wiped away a tear from his eye. Error didn't reply, he just felt words stuck in his throat as something had stopped working in his system._

 

Ink moved his body, dragging himself next to Error, and just hummed a tune while thinking about what to say. They couldn't deny it, they were both thinking about what happened just a few days earlier, and the fact that they were in the same place didn't help, either, but it's not like they could have done it differently. They both loved that place, the soft shine of those stars, the city under them filled with joy as every character lived its pacifist route: Ink, proud of having protected that alternate universe; Error, denying his desires of destroying a world with such a stunning view - at least, for now.

None of them spoke for a few minutes until Ink yawned and placed his back onto the ground, so that he could look better at the sky above him.

“You know, Error…”

“What do you want?”

“Let me speak, at least,” the painter laughed softly before continuing, “I've been visiting the true universe a few times, now, and I've been running into human literature.”

Error looked at the other one in confusion and even adjusted his glasses, as sign of him paying attention to the white skeleton’s story.

“And… and… Wait, what was I talking about?”

“Human literature, you idiot! Just go ahead and tell me what the hell happened.”

“Aw, man, look at you! You're interested in my story, aren't you? Hilarious!”

 

_“Aw, man, look at you! You're in love… with a soulless being! Hilarious!”_

_Error shivered, holding his head with his hands, looking away as he tried to convince himself that what Ink was saying wasn't the truth - but he was just lying to himself._

_“As if this was working!”_

 

The glitch shook his head, balling tight his hands into fists before giving a deadly glare to the painter, who replied by laughing again.

“Sorry, dude, just having a bit of fun…”

Error moved his eyes away, now looking at the sky above him, everything seemed to remind him of that cursed day.

“Anyway, anyway, the story, right?”

“... Right.”

“Cool. So… Have you ever heard of Tristan and Isolde? It's a medieval novel.”

“Why the hell should I know…?”

Ink hesitated before looking at Error, giving him a small, sad smile.

“Because it reminded me of us.”

Even though Ink didn't say anything in particular, hearing the word _us_ made Error feel weird. He knew where the painter was going, and something started glitching inside of him, but he couldn't let himself appear weak in front of the artist.

“Elaborate.”

Ink looked at the other one with his eyes filled with joy at the request, he loved when people asked him to explain things or just when they were genuinely interested in what he had to say.

“Well, there is this human couple and their affection is kind of prohibited. You know, combined marriages and all that stuff that happened often during that age. They are already interested in each other, but…”

Error felt his heart skipping a beat, his soul aching at realizing what he never wanted to really acknowledge. Ink glanced at him for a second, before getting back to his story.

“... They actually fell in love with each other by drinking a love potion.”

Silence fell on the two of them. Error grinned his teeth, anger filling his body as he kept realizing how he couldn't really accept what his soul told him, while Ink counted the vials on his belt, pulling out one of them. He raised it to the sky, some stars reflected their light on the glass; the heart shaped top of the vial was colored in a bright pink, together with the substance contained in it. He looked at it for a few seconds, keeping it high, and the glitch brought his eyes on the glass container as well before opening his mouth to speak.

“... What are you implying?”

“This is pink, pale pink, the color that makes me feel genuine love. It's not that much different, if you think about it, from the potion from the novel.”

Error went silent, his eyes now glued on Ink in fear; truthfully, he couldn't feel his soul anymore. Ink, on the other hand, sat up, playing with the vial while passing it between his fingers. The black skeleton kept feeling like his system was giving up on him every second, more and more, and he didn't know what to do.

“What would happen if we get together,” Error held his breath, his eyes wide open as Ink spoke, “but I run out of _this_?”

 

_“You know this, right?”_

_His voice was broken, but he didn't stop talking as he held his belt close to his chest._

_“That I can't do this…”_

_Error held his breath, waiting for him to finish._

_“... That I can't love you back.”_

 

The destructor shook his head, his breath getting heavy as he started feeling the tension rising inside of him… and inside of Ink, too. He didn't have a soul, but his feelings were true, when they were _available._ The painter gave a soft chuckle, but he didn't even pretend to show like that situation didn't affect him. Error didn't know, but being broken was a deal for his nemesis, more that he could ever think about.

“I never said I didn't like you back, silly,” Ink replied, his voice getting almost impossible to be heard as he suppressed the sobs that were slowly coming to the surface, the pain that he tried so hard to hide by showing off his wide smile, as he always did. Error buried his face in his hands, cursing under his breath.

“It's just that… What if I run out of this forever? What if I can't feel love anymore? What if I stop feeling anything, running out of every single color I own, every single emotion?”

Error moved his fingers, his eyes poking out between them, and he focused on the figure next to him that was standing up. Ink walked in front of the glitch, still holding the vial tightly in his hand, his limbs shaking as a reaction to him containing his emotions.

“Would you be still in love with an empty shell, once the effect of this love poison runs out?”

The glitch immediately stood up, clenching his hands into fists as he tried to open his mouth to speak once again. He wanted to reply, to show that he cared, but nothing came out. He wanted to tell him that he loved him, no matter what, he would have stood by his side, but he was reminded a few times where Ink ran out of some potions, and his body froze. Before he could speak, he took a deep breath.

“You idiot, you don't get it-”

“Would you be still in love with someone who doesn't feel anything, a broken toy… With someone who isn't that much different from being dead?”

Negative emotions won over Error as he didn't step forward but just stared at the other guy in front of him, his whole body shaking in a mixture of anger and disappointment. It's only his fault if he fell in love with him. And he had to pay the price. If Nightmare was there, he would have probably gained enough energy to destroy a whole alternate universe just by using Error’s negativity.

“... I have to go.”

“Error, wait-”

“Shut up. I still don't know why I didn't kill you.”

Error had his voice cracked, and as Ink stretched his hand to touch his shoulder, the glitch snapped his fingers and disappeared in the nothingness, hiding himself in the anti-void.

 

Once he was alone, he could finally let the tears out, staining his glasses, as his sobs were cracked by the glitches. He ripped apart some of his scratch dolls, screaming around his house in rage. He hated himself, but most importantly, he hated himself for letting his soul and his heart get attached to Ink.

And Ink, for the first time, wiped the usual grin away from his face, allowing the tears of recognition scroll down his face.

 

“I wish I could love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT NOTES:  
> Oof, ErrorInk isn't a ship I expected to ship at all. In fact, I'm super surprised. But still, I wanna thank you guys for your feedback, you make me wanna write more - even thought I'd write also about other ships as well, such as Soriel and Cream and, generally speaking, ships from completely different fandoms. Thank you again!

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT NOTES:  
> Oof, ErrorInk isn't a ship I expected to ship at all. In fact, I'm super surprised. But still, I wanna thank you guys for your feedback, you make me wanna write more - even thought I'd write also about other ships as well, such as Soriel and Cream and, generally speaking, ships from completely different fandoms. Thank you again!


End file.
